I've been lurking around here for some time gathering information and ideas for my new BBQ. I've been working on the build all spring/summer and just wrapped it up to the point I can use it last week. First run of 20 racks of spare ribs was on Saturday.

It is 8.5' x 3' with a 36x36x30 insulated fire box centered in the rear and is reverse flow (double reverse flow maybe?).

I was very happy with how it performed, temps even within 7 or 8 degrees across all the lower racks. (I used water trays to keep the temps in the middle down a little bit).

I was also happy with the amount of fuel it used. 4 bags of kingsford for a 1 hour warmup and 6 hour cook plus a few small splits on top.

The only real issue is that the insulated fire box door warps ALOT when hot, so much so I needed to use a big bar clamp to keep it closed. It warps about 3/4", funny thing is it goes right back to dead straight when cool.

I have used it a few times now and it seems to be working pretty well. The fire box door still warps, I am going to try welding some big pieces of angle to the inside and see if that helps but I'm thinking the real solution is going to be replace the door with something that is not insulated and only and single layer thick. The doors weighs well over 200lbs so it's not something I'm looking forward to scrapping.

The cooking chamber doors have also moved a little bit, I now have small 1/8" gaps at the bottoms, I don't see any smoke escaping there but I will need to tweak them a bit.

I still have some thinks I need to finish like a shelf on the outside along the front and some other niceties on the trailer but I'm just enjoying using it for now.

I was wondering how you have your counter weight system set up as I’m looking for a set up for my smoker. Do you have any photos of your system set up.

Thanks

This is the best pic of the counterweights I have:
But you can see the here too:

The counter weights on the smaller side doors are just traditional style. The center weight is a cast iron bean pot that is filled with about 80lbs of melted lead. It rides up and down on the rod that opens and closes the stack covers and is attached to the door with wire rope and pullies. It took a bunch of trial and error to get it worked out but it works well and is a little unique. The center door weighs about 100#.

woow this looks great. Nice job. How much time did you spend to build this smoker?

I spent all of last summer in my driveway/garage working on it. I built the trailer too. If I had to guess I would say 250hours but that is just a guess.

I still have a few things I want to add to it. Storage bins on either side of the fire box, fold down steps to get up onto the trailer, a Santa Maria style charcoal grill on the front and a couple of big propane burners

Yeah, that door is going to be problematic without some love...in hindsight, you probably should have welded some cross bracing before insulating and closing it up. As a stop gap, you could try welding a couple strips of .25"x 2" A36 in a "x" pattern from corner to corner on the inside of the door. That might be enough to keep it from warping. Kevin may have a better solution, perhaps he will weigh-in.

I was wondering how you have your counter weight system set up as I’m looking for a set up for my smoker. Do you have any photos of your system set up.

Thanks

This is the best pic of the counterweights I have:
But you can see the here too:

The counter weights on the smaller side doors are just traditional style. The center weight is a cast iron bean pot that is filled with about 80lbs of melted lead. It rides up and down on the rod that opens and closes the stack covers and is attached to the door with wire rope and pullies. It took a bunch of trial and error to get it worked out but it works well and is a little unique. The center door weighs about 100#.

Thank you I especially like the way that you have a rod running through the pot to keep it centralised and steady. I’m going to use that idea on my counter weight that I’m busy with now. Thanks again and well done on your build._________________If you try and fail, try again

I finally got to take it out on the road for a drive. About 15 miles on the highway.

It pulled pretty well, was very stable behind the truck although I can't say I did an emergency lane change or anything like that. It was pretty windy and I was passed by some trucks/buses with no problems.

On a bumpy back road going maybe 40 it seemed tail heavy to me once it started bouncing up and down over the bumps. It stayed straight just seemed like the ass end was bouncing more than I would have expected.

I still plan to put a Santa Maria grill and a couple of propane burners on the front so that will add a few hundred pounds of tongue weight.